GAPP Has New Plan to Track International Surimi Supply

A seafood trade group seeking to help Alaska Pollock processors identify supply and demand in the wholesale surimi market plans to partner with market data specialist Urner Barry on a new quarterly tracker into the surimi industry.

The partnership was announced in late May by the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers, as a service to its seafood processing members.

The decision to partner with Urner Barry stemmed from a formal request for proposals for the project issued months ago by GAPP.
“It is extremely important for all GAPP members to better understand the wholesale surimi trade and have a more complete and timely picture of recent supply and demand,” said Doug Christensen, GAPP treasurer and president/chief executive officer of the Arctic Storm Management Group, which is active in the Alaska groundfish fisheries. “These quarterly reports will be an unbelievably valuable window into the global production of surimi seafood.”

The goal is to inform GAPP members of challenges and opportunities for wild Alaska Pollock surimi in global markets and to help GAPP better position its marketing and promotion efforts into places where there is the greatest opportunity for wild Alaska Pollock surimi seafood.

Urner Barry provides proprietary market data for center-of-the-plate proteins. The firm is considered a standard medium through which buyers and sellers gauge fair market value across the supply chain for seafood and other commodity marketing groups.